Lex Luthor dies
by accelerator 231
Summary: Lex Luthor has defeated the Justice League. He has smeared their names, stolen their resources, and made himself the hero of the hour. All is well. Or is it?


Luthor, savior of earth, killer of superman, destroyer of the Justice League, traitor, murderer, and betrayer, coughed, looking up upon his foes.

Brainiac. A green humanoid with glowing red orbs embedded in his skin.

Darkseid. A monstrous form with an omega symbol, and glowing red eyes.

Doomsday. Grey, with monstrous growths, growling like an animal.

Were it any other day, he would have raged. If he were any stronger, he would have retorted. If he were in a better position, he would have made a speech on his intelligence. If he were still winning...

They came, soon, after several years after he had defeated superman. After defeating that pesky alien and his friends, he had started up his plans to take over the world. Blackmail on all politicians. Sending out PR teams to clean up his image. Putting stuff into charity, adding to his reputation as a philanthropist. Making sure those that were too recalcitrant and too principled, to end up like superman.

Hah. Those were good times.

Then they came. He had set out against them. Ready and willing to fight them off, ready to show off his prowess and intellect, and to be showered with a greater reputation than before. Lex Luthor, Savior of Humanity. Defender of Earth. He could already hear the accolades and the sweet women.

That it all came tumbling down. His armies of satellites were destroyed by high level antimatter that somehow bypassed his shields. Even the kryptonian tech didn't work, since he didn't have remotely enough time to update all of his satellites with the new tech. The army of parademons warped in, clashing with his robot armies. He had several million robots. Darkseid sent in billions, outnumbering them, tearing them to pieces and striking at key metropoli and infrastructure. He tried to redirect them. Anywhere. To the sun. To the moon. To the center of Earth's core. But jamming from Brainiac's ship stopped it, letting them land right on earth.

And then Doomsday had been unleashed, thrown into the fray. He had various substations with superspeed computronium to help coordinate the millions of robots, the defenses, and everything else. Doomsday turned all of that into wreckage. The bastard couldn't even be pinned down, using some kind of teleportation device Brainiac had embedded in him.

In the end, with everything falling around him, he had moved into the fray himself. Not out of any kind of heroism. But so that he could save whatever he had left of his legacy. The Mark XII Armour. Powered by kryptonite, enhanced with Kryptonian tech, and enhanced by his own superlative genius. He had charged towards the parademon army, hoping to at least inflict some casualties.

Darkseid had put a stop to that. Teleporting

His armour lay in ruins about him, and he could feel numerous broken bones in him, as well at least on ruptured organ. He coughed, and saw blood on the ground before him. It is going to be over soon.

Doomsday was the first to speak. The hackled monster gurgled, like some primitive caveman neanderthal, before speaking one word.

"Superman? Where is superman?"

Despite his state, Lex felt a flush of anger. All this destruction, all this death, all this war, and they still mentioned that damnable alien! Why couldn't they respect intellect and hard work.

Why couldn't they respect him!

He looked up to deliver a retort. "Look here, you damnable bar-"

"I am afraid Superman is not quite with us, now." said Brainiac. He gestured, and Luthor gasped, as the figure of Superman appeared. Bound in his case, still half-skinned, still comatose...but alive. Brainiac turned to him, his eyes glowing red with smugness.

"Truly, you are a man of strange tastes. It is incredible how you managed to capture the man of steel in a moment of surprise. Yet, you truly believed that antic with the boom tube would work. Boom tubes have been in use for millenia, and both the New Gods and Apokolips use them against one another. Do you truly think trying to reroute all boom tubes to the sun would work. Amateurish." Darkseid was speaking now, no longer looking at him. He was examing the man of steel, glancing at his half-skinned corpse. He cupped his cheek, turning this way and that.

"Don't mock me, you alien imbecile!" shouted Lex, anger overcoming his fear. "I won! I won! I defeated the Justice League. I destroyed them. People spit on their names now, and worship me! Who do you think you are, to turn your back on me?"

That got their attention. The aliens turned around, looking at him, scorn and contempt on their faces.

Darkseid spoke first. "You won against the justice league? Well, we won against you. What does that mean?"

Brainiac, was the second. He held up a hand, holograms showing files. Files he had kept secret. Files he had made sure to never see the light of day. Files that he had encrypted thousands of times over, to make sure that only he could ever see them, and enjoy the moments for the rest of time.

The files showed everything. Everything. Enough to get him incriminated in any courtroom. His monologues. His diaries. His plans. His usage of superman's skin as bulletproof vests. His eyes as laser emitters. The time when he had mercenaries beat down superman until he broke. Everything.

He looked on in horror. How?

"It was quite astute of you, to use so many permutations and defenses." Said Brainiac, smugly. "But Lex Luthor. Your arrogance and inexperience defeats you. You have thought of every outcome. Or so you thought. But remember. I have kryptonian tech. And I have absorbed thousands of worlds. Your encryptions? Rudimentary and simple, in comparism."

Lex Luthor could only slump. It was over. It was truly over. His army and resources in ruins. His dirty laundry out in the open. Broken, before several alien gods.

He let out a grin. No. Not yet. He still had one more trick.

"Beam me up, scotty." he said, grinning at the aliens he had just outsmarted. Pathetic fools.

The grin faded as he realized that nothing was happening. He looked around, bewildered and shocked. "How-" he began.

"As said before, inexperienced. I have absorbed thousands of cultures and races. I saw the teleport lock, and found it to this source." Said Brainiac. He pointed at Darkseid. "This one's parademons made short work of the woman. Your organization is gone, now."

Darkseid turned from Superman, to look at him. Gazing down upon him with those glowing red eyes. He smiled, and glanced at his files. It was not nice. "Truly, Lex Luthor. Did you really think this would end well? You killed the Justice League. Kal-El, one of the mightiest beings in existence. A member of the Green Lantern Corps. The Flash. Wonder Woman. Aquaman. All of them powerful metahumans, all armies on their own. Your machines and technology, can be subverted and can be nullified by destroying the infrastructure they are reliant upon."

Lex Luthor couldn't let this go on. He couldn't let himself be mocked in favor of those pathetic fools and do-gooders. "I defeated them, I tarnished their name. I-"

"You did nothing of the sort." Interrupted Darkseid. "You know what would have happened if you had tried what you did on Apokolips?" he asked, and then he kicked Lex Luthor in the stomach. He shouted, and flew, striking a piece of rubble. He clutched his stomach, feeling something break.

"That." said Darkseid, walking forward. "Even then, it was not your intelligence that saved you. It was their idiocy and their devotion to things like 'Law' and 'Goodness'. If it were up to me, I would have taken over the planet, and torn apart your organization at the seams. It was their reluctance to kill you and their devotion to follow the laws of the land saved your life. Not your intelligence."

Lex Luthor couldn't say anything. His achievements, dust. His home, destroyed. His reputation, destroyed. His riches, gone.

"What should we do with him?" said Doomsday, his voice gnarly and slurred. "There's no superman here. I don't care anymore."

"That is true," said Darkseid, clasping his hands behind his back. "Some bald fool was kind enough to capture superman for us. And yet, what shall we do with him? He is intelligent, no doubt. Too dangerous."

"I can take him." Said Brainiac. "He can certainly be useful. Take apart his brain. Put in some implants to monitor rebellious thoughts and any signs of deviation. A brain such as his is a rare find, though the intellect is crippled by his personality. It would make a fine souveneir."

Darkseid grinned. "Clever." he said. "But not quite enough." he turned to Luthor, and showed him... something. Whirling lines and numbers and words. Luthor closed his eyes. He had heard of it. And now, he had seen it.

"I have a small portion. Not much. But enough to weaken minds. How about I lobotomize you, Luthor, such that your vaunted intellect is no more. You will be no more than a simpleton, barely capable of reading. You will forever know that you were once far greater than you were, and be forced to hold that feeling until the rest of your natural life." Darkseid gestured to the hologram of Brainiacs'

"And then, we'll release it. All of it. All of your misdeeds. All of your crimes and failures and schemes. There should still be some proof left. And then, we'll let the planet know just who stripped their protectors from them. Who caused all this. And then," he grinned, showing his teeth. "We'll give you to them. What they'll do to you... The hate, spite, self-hatred, anger, and grief on this world will be a wonder to behold."

Lex trembled. And he felt something he had not felt for a long time. Fear. Fear of losing his intellect. Fear of losing his reputation. Fear of the aliens that had come to destroy him.

"But why?" he gasped, voice tinny with fear. He didn't care. He didn't care anymore. He got up, kneeling before the three aliens that had defeated him. "W...What did I do to you? I-I defeated superman for you. Why kill me? I-I'll work for you!" he said raising his hands. This was pathetic. A humiliation. But what else could he do?

Doomsday spoke, his voice, rumbling and bruising Lex Luthor's broken ribs. "Ka-El was ours to defeat, humiliate, and kill. Not you. Not some upjumped scientist who only won because his enemies were too softhearted."

"So, Lex Luthor," said Brainiac, leaning forward, pitiless eyes boring a hole into him. "Choose your fate."

A/N: So I saw a 'Lex Luthor Triumphant' fic.

Guess what? I hated it.

So here's a little something.


End file.
